Washington Redskins: Dan Snyder and the 4 Worst Decision-Makers in Team History

Unfortunately for the newest generation of Washington Redskin fans you don’t have to look too far back into the teams’ history to find some bad decisions. In fact, most of the worst decisions in team history have happened recently.

The Redskins used to be one of the proudest and well-respected organizations in football. They have boasted Hall of Fame players, coaches and three Super Bowl wins.

It’s hard for me to find many goof balls in the earlier eras, and frankly I wouldn’t want to disrespect them like that.

Since Daniel Snyder took over the ownership reigns though things have been bad to say the least.

Poor decision making, dumb calls and erratic behavior have taken control of the Washington Redskins since the turn of the century.

Here are four of the biggest culprits:

4. Mike Shanahan

Now, I understand that compared to some of the coaches Washington has had recently Shanahan is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air for Redskin fans.

He has been successful and I think he will be with the ‘Skins, but the fact remains that he made a few very dumb moves that left me scratching my head.

They are at least worth taking a look at.

The first and most important in my opinion is hiring his son, Kyle Shanahan as the offensive coordinator. The ‘Skins offense had firepower and potential, but they didn’t live up to it. I’m not sure if staying within the family here was a good idea.

Also I have to question the way he has handled to of the biggest names that are still (yes, still) on his roster.

His feud with Albert Haynesworth has been highly publicized, granted Haynesworth seemingly is feuding with everybody so I can’t look to much into that.

Shanahan’s faith in Donovan McNabb at the beginning of the season was kind of suspect, but what was with the decision to pull him out of the lineup against Detroit in favor of Rex Grossman?

You’re really telling me that after all that time in the NFL McNabb has no idea how to run a two-minute offense?

That was a head scratcher, and it cost the ‘Skins that game, and in my opinion was the downfall of the season.

3. Vinny Cerrato

Cerrato was the general manager for the Washington Redskins starting in 1999 and played a vital role in the downfall of the team until he resigned in 2009.

He signed way to many not so good players to contracts much larger and longer than their worth, drafted arguably just as bad as any other GM in the league, and oh yeah, he seemed to feel Jim Zorn was head coach material.

Overall Cerrato was a mess of a general manager. He was fired by Marty Schottenheimer in 2001, which seemed to be the end of it, but was promptly re-hired by his friend and team owner Dan Snyder in 2001 as the Executive Vice-President of Football Operations.

It might have been friendship personified, but it was also stupidity personified.

2. Albert Haynesworth

Plain and simple, Albert Haynesworth is just an all around bad decision.

It was a bad decision for the Washington Redskins to sign him to that ludicrous contract, and he has made nothing but bad decisions since joining the team.

Be it feuding with the front office or the coach, getting in trouble with the law, which included road rage, and alleged sexual assault, and a smattering of other dumb decisions.

Haynesworth has been nothing but trouble, yet he is still on the Redskins hands!?

It’s like babysitting and over-sized child at this point.

1. Dan Snyder

Snyder has personified everything that is wrong about management in professional sports.

He is arguably one of the worst, if not the worst, owner in professional sports, and he has taken a once proud organization and ran them into the ground.

He has a rap sheet that is long and prolific, so I’ll just name a few of his bad decisions.

1. He has gone through more head coaches during his tenure with the ‘Skins than most teenagers go through relationships.
2. He has made some incredibly dumb trades that usually involve giving away draft picks.
3. He has regularly overpaid for free agents that have not played even close to what they were making.

His worst sin with the Redskins though was actually suing his faithful season ticket holders because they couldn't pay due to the recession and bad economy.

Talk about turning on your own people. Talk about a bad decision...

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AKonSports